International students: Visa and residency permit

Visa

If your stay in France is due to last for more than three months, you must obtain a long-term student visabefore your arrival in France The request for the form must be made at the French consular services in your country of residence at least 3 months before your departure.

In order to obtain your visa, you will be asked for the following documents:

proof of your admission or pre-enrolment at Université de Nantes

proof of your monthly income of at least 615€ (amount fixed by each French embassy)

a valid passport

proof of residence in France

A visa is not required for those students who are citizens of a European Economic Area country and from Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, Switzerland or the Vatican.

Residency permit

Since the 1st of June 2009, holders of a VLST visa (for a duration of more than three months) are exempt from registering for a temporary residency permit card for their first year of study in France. However, this is not the case for Algerian and Canadian students who have a D-type student visa with the statement 'request for residency permit to be made upon arrival'.

When you receive your visa, you will also be given an application for OFII certification (Office Francais de l'Immigration et de l'Intégration), which you should complete and send to the local OFII headquaters, within the first three months of your arrival in France. The OFII will then send you information and instructions for the necessary formalities, including a health examination and validating your visa.

This procedure is compulsory.

You should allow at least three weeks to obtain your visa. If you are a student and a holder of this new visa, you should contact the OFII as soon as you arrive in France in order to undergo the medical exam and validate your visa, which will give it the value of a residency permit.

Between the 26th of August and the 4th of October 2013, students can submit their papers and receive help to fill out the necessary papers directly at the Guichet Unique. The documents you will need are as follows:

VLS/Application for OFII certification

Photocopy of passport, identity pase, visa and entry stamp

Your complete address (building number, room number, name of host if being lodged)

The staff at the Guichet Unique will then send your applications to the OFII directly.

When your application has been processed by the OFII, students will receive a certificate to prove the reception of their application, and a notice to attend the obligatory health check. This notice is to be collected by the student at the Guichet Unique.

The health check will take place at the Nantes OFII office. If all medical conditions are met , students will receive their medical certificate as well as the vignette validating their visa, giving the same value as a residency permit, during this visit.

Students must provide the following documents in order to receive the OFII vignette:

1 official identity photo

proof of address

stamp of 58€ for students. These can be bought in certain 'tabacs', at the Prefecture, and are now available to buy on the internet.

More information will be available at the Guichet Unique!

Renewal of a Residency Permit

You can submit your application to renew your residency permit directly at the Guichet Unique, from the 26th of August onwards.

Second year Master students

Please contact the International Relations office 5 months before the expiration of your residency permit.A letter addressed to Monsieur Le Prefet de Loire Atlantique will allow you to receive authorisation of stay in France for 6 months after the expiration of your visa, in order to find a job.Do not hesitate to contact the International Relations office for help with these formalities.

For more information please come to the Guichet unique at the Maison des Echanges Internationaux et de la Francophonie !